Mistmare

Of all the games that we saw at ECTS last week, the one which
confused us the most was Mistmare. At first sight it's a Morrowind
style first person action role-playing game, but lurking behind
that attractive 3D facade is an inventive character development
system and a truly bizarre setting.

Scotch Mist

This church has seen better days

Mistmare takes place in a parallel world where the Catholic church
started researching Lithurgic magic, eventually creating The Link,
a network of magical bells that allowed communication between
cathedrals across Europe.

Needless to say this put the church in a position of great power,
but things soon took a turn for the worse as the Black Death took
hold of the continent. The Link was broken, and a mysterious
magical Fog began to spread across Europe. By the time its progress
was stopped it had already smothered most of central Europe, from
deep in Russia across eastern Europe, along the alps and out into
the Atlantic. Anybody who strayed into the Fog vanished, and in the
meantime monsters and demons had started to emerge from beyond the
barrier.

Flash forwards to 1996, and we have a very different world to the
one we're familiar with. Central Europe is still smothered in the
Fog, the Mediterranean is dominated by the church, while
Scandinavia is all but cut off in the north and has developed its
own primitive technology. You are thrown into this sundered world
in the role of a young monk and sorceror, sent by the Inquisition
to track down a dangerous man who could make things even worse.
Along the way you will start to uncover the origins and nature of
the Fog, while numerous side quests and randomly generated missions
will sidetrack you from the main storyline.

My Brain Hurts

A shield which, as you can see from the little circle diagram, is firmly rooted in the Terran sphere

Not only is this one of the more colourful back stories that we've
come across in a role-playing game recently, but it also acts as a
logical basis for the game's unique character development and spell
casting systems. The lithurgic magic of this alternative Europe is
based around the idea that the world is governed by three spheres -
Terran, Lunar and Solar - while people have both Corporeal and
Spiritual aspects. This ties into everything from skills and
attributes to combat and magic.

Your six basic stats represent the two aspects of each of the three
spheres - willpower and strength are (respectively) the Spiritual
and Corporeal aspects of the Terran sphere, intelligence and
agility belong to the Lunar sphere, and concentration and health
are Solar attributes. One or more of these basic stats then
controls each skill; so, for example, acrobatics is a Corporeal
skill governed by your agility and strength.

It's all very complicated, but luckily most of this intricacy is
hidden away behind a very simple interface and character sheet.
Each item and skill has a balance of the three spheres, displayed
as a triangle with a circle at each corner, with the size of a
sphere's icon showing the strength of its influence. This pictorial
approach is extended to the stats themselves; instead of giving the
player a sheet full of numbers, you are simply shown bars that
extend as you gain experience in that particular attribute or
skill, until eventually you "level" it and another star lights up
above the bar.

Gotta Harvest Them All

That's gotta hurt.

The most obvious application of lithurgica in the game is the
magical system. Spells are cast by combining a focus with one of
the three spheres, with the outcome varying depending on which
sphere you used. For example, using a particular focus for a Terran
spell will make you move silently, while the Lunar sphere allows
you to creep through the shadows and the Solar makes your body
translucent.

Spells range from basic alchemy and boosting or reducing the stats
of a given creature to offensive spells that cause fire storms,
lightning strikes and explosions. To make things even more
mind-boggling, your alignment also has an influence on the outcome
of your spells. Lawful characters tend to be luckier, neutral
people excel at alchemy, and chaotic ones are best at offensive
magic. And naturally your alignment will also govern how other
characters respond to you.

The game also includes a bit of a Pokemon side to it, with
characters able to harvest monsters, locking them in gems and then
reconjuring them at a later date. The creatures are controlled
using a simple point and click interface, allowing you to order
monsters to move to a specific point or attack a particular target.
If you prefer a more hands-on approach to fighting, the game
includes four different schools of combat to master - oriental,
norse, military and barbaric - with a range of unique moves for
each.

Perfect Timing

Mistmare by night

During the course of the game you will get to venture behind the
barrier and into the Fog, which adds another level of complexity to
character development and combat. Fighting in the Fog will "damage"
your concentration rather than your health, and winning a fight in
the Fog will benefit your Spiritual attributes, while victory in
the world outside improves your Corporeal stats.

Whether it's your mind or your body that is under attack though, if
you lose a battle your character will run or hobble away to
recover. This costs you time, which is a precious commodity in
Mistmare. You only have a limited number of days to complete each
episode, and it's up to you how you spend this time. For example,
if you want your character to work out, you can simply give the
order to pump iron for however long you want, and the world will
accelerate around you until the activity is completed. At this
point your strength skills will have been boosted, but you'll have
less time left to complete your mission. You also need to set aside
some time to sleep, as your stamina limit will gradually decrease
day by day as you exhaust yourself.

The passing of time affects the world around you as well, because
in contrast to the likes of Morrowind, in Mistmare day and night
aren't just there to look pretty. The world isn't static - people
have daily routines and will go home at night, so if you urgently
need to buy or sell something in the middle of the night you may
have to track down a dodgy looking bloke at the local pub, as all
the shops will be closed.

Conclusion

Mistmare is an ambitious and inventive effort with a vast and
unusual world to explore, attractive 3D graphics and a carefully
thought out magical and character development system that ties into
almost every aspect of the game. To be honest we were a bit baffled
by the glimpse we got of this world at ECTS but hopefully all will
become clear soon, as the game is currently on target for release
towards the end of the year.